1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ultrasound diagnostic equipment, more particularly, to ultrasound diagnostic equipment for displaying an integrated backscatter (IB) or scattering coefficient b and n of tissues of an object to be measured in an organ by using scattering power or scattering power spectrum of blood.
In diagnostic techniques using ultrasound waves, it is necessary to improve diagnostic accuracy by quantitative diagnosis of tissues.
Now, acoustic characteristics of tissues, especially, attenuation characteristics and scattering characteristics, are used to indicate the characteristics of the tissues. Note, the present invention relates to an apparatus for calculating an integrated backscatter IB, which is an acoustic characteristic, quantitatively and exactly and for displaying it. Further, the present invention relates to an apparatus for calculating coefficients b and n quantitatively and exactly and for displaying them, when defining scattering frequency characteristics of the acoustic characteristics to the following equation. EQU S(f)=b f.sup.n
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when diagnosing a heart by using ultrasound waves and detecting scattering power of a cardiac wall by synchronizing with a heartbeat, it is known that a change in ultrasound scattering power (IB) of a cardiac wall portion of a myocardial infarction is different from that of a normal cardiac wall portion. Furthermore, conventionally when diagnosing a heart by using ultrasound waves and calculating scattering coefficients, it is known that the scattering coefficients b and n of a cardiac wall portion of a myocardial infarction are different from those of a normal cardiac wall portion.
However, when practically diagnosing the heart from a body surface by using ultrasound waves, the ultrasound waves are attenuated during passage from the body surface to a measurement portion. In addition, the degree of attenuation that occurs from the body surface to each measurement portion is different from the others, and thus an absolute value of the obtained result cannot exactly indicate a characteristic of the portion. In order to solve the above problem, a means to measure the scattering power, which has high accuracy and does not depend on the attenuation (attenuation characteristics), is required. Furthermore, in order to solve the above problem, a means to measure the scattering coefficients, which has high accuracy and does not depend on the attenuation, are also required.